The Origin of Magic
by elmoryakhan
Summary: Ever wondered, what is the origin of magic? How magic came into this world? How magic works? Or what is the source of Wizard's powers? The summer before his sixth year Harry gets answers to these questions from a stranger. This is a story for everyone who seeks the truth. ONE SHOT. NO PAIRINGS.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

Harry lay on his bed in his room at 4 Privet Drive. He kept staring at the ceiling. He had not eaten anything since morning, nor did he feel like eating anything.

It had been five days since he came back to the Dursleys. But the events of last few weeks were permanently ingrained in his mind. The memories of Sirius' death haunted him in his nightmares.

Despite his friend's letters conveying words of assurance, Harry simply couldn't shake off the immense feeling of guilt which lay like a burden on his mind and heart. Only one thought stubbornly kept flowing through his mind...Sirius was dead and it was his fault. If only he was not so stupid, if only he had listened to Hermione, if only he hadn't been so reckless, if only Dumbledore had told him the truth earlier...if only indeed!

"You know you brood too much." As if galvanized by an electric shock, Harry sprung from his bed. Tightly gripping his wand he wildly looked around trying to locate the source of voice. His search ended as his eyes fell upon a man standing near the door. With his heart pounding in his chest, Harry instantly pointed his wand at the stranger. Harry was silent for a moment wondering who was he and how he had entered his room without him knowing. The strange man seemed to be a wizard judging by his somewhat old fashioned robes. He was tall and well built and had shoulder length straight brown hair and, short grey beard and deep blue eyes which seemed to twinkle just like Dumbledore's.

One thing about the man that caught Harry's attention was the fact that his edges seemed somewhat blurry. It reminded him of Tom Riddle in the chamber of secrets from his second year. Was he a ghost, Harry thought, but the man seemed..rather solid and substantial. Yet Harry's instinct told him that there was definitely something non-human about the stranger standing before him.

"Who are you?" Harry's voice came out in a harsh whisper. The stranger who until then was calmly standing and regarding Harry without any hint of emotion and apparently unperturbed by Harry's wand trained at him, broke into a slight smile at Harry's question.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Hermes Trimegistus and I mean you no harm and there is no need to point that wand at me." The strange man replied with a serene smile on his face.

Harry however was in no mood to lower his wand as he had no reason to trust him yet...though the name sounded vaguely familiar.

"I am asking you again who are you and how did you enter my room?" Harry asked in a soft but firm voice.

The man's serene expression didn't change as he replied. "I just told you my name Mr Potter and any further questions can wait until you lower your wand, as I already said I am not here to harm you."

"Oh yeah, so how about I stun you and call in the Aurors as you have illegally entered this house without my permission, for all I know you could be a death eater sent by Voldemort." Harry said while keeping his wand trained on the man all the time.

The strange man sighed at Harry's response, he took a deep breath and extended his right hand straight towards Harry. Harry was rather confused by the man's gesture until his wand was suddenly jerked out of his hand and shot straight to the hand of the strange man.

Harry was shocked beyond imagination and an icy hand of fear gripped his heart. Even Dumbledore had never demonstrated this level of wandless magic!

"Mr Potter if I wanted to harm you I would have done it by now." The man said while twirling Harry's wand between his fingers. Seeing Harry was still quiet most probably out of shock, the man continued. "Don't be afraid Mr Potter I just want to talk to you, here you can have your wand back." The stranger threw Harry's wand back to him which he caught instantly with his seeker skills. "Now Mr Potter please sit down as we have much to discuss." The stranger said as he sat down on a nearby chair.

Harry numb with shock simply complied and slowly sat down on the edge of his bed. After all what choice he had, the man before him could easily kill him if he wanted to and there as no one who could help him now. Moreover the man didn't seem dangerous though powerful and he did return his wand.

"Now what I am going to tell you may find hard to believe but I swear that everything I say is the truth so please listen carefully and don't interrupt me." The man gazed at Harry for a second before he resumed."As I already told you my name is Hermes Trimegistus, you may have read about me in your history books."

Harry thought for a moment before a memory suddenly revealed itself. He now knew why the name sounded familiar.

"You are that famous alchemist, but how is this possible you lived a thousand years ago...or perhaps..er you don't have the philosophers stone with you do you." Harry said.

"Yes Mr Potter I am the alchemist you have read about and no I don't have the philosophers stone with me now, you see I am truly dead."The man now confirmed to be Hermes replied.

"So are you a ghost?" Harry asked now burning with curiosity.

"No Harry, can I call you Harry?" At Harry's nod Hermes continued, "I am not a ghost I am a spirit, which means though I have moved on to after life I can come to this world occasionally and I can also do magic, you see I did an ancient and now lost powerful magical ritual in India when I was alive which gave me the ability to become a spirit after my death."

There was a silence for a full minute. Harry simply gaped at the strange old man who was dead but not a ghost. Then he asked the question which mortals throughout the centuries have tried to ask.

"So you have seen the afterlife, I mean have you.." Hermes raised his hand to prevent Harry from further saying anything. He probably knew what Harry was going to ask or what he wanted to know. His next statement confirmed it.

"Yes I have been to the afterlife or what muggles may call heaven and I have met many interesting people there including your parents." This really perked up Harry who was now filled with anticipation. "And yes your parents know everything about your life and they are proud of and they constantly send their love and blessings."

Harry was stunned, he didn't know what to say, but his heart was engulfed with a new found warmth at these words. His parents loved him they are proud of him, he could hear that a million times without getting tired. Seeing Harry was silent, Hermes continued.

"I have also met Sirius and don't look so surprised, he asked me tell you that his death was in no way your fault it was Bellatrix and Voldemort's fault, he wants you to stop brooding about past and move on with your life."

Harry didn't say anything for some time and his eyes became suspiciously bright which he tried to hide.

"I wish I could see them." Harry said softly after some time.

"You will see them but not for in your mother's words for at least a hundred years from now on." Hermes replied.

Harry went quiet once again and then took a deep breath and asked the pertinent question.

"So why are you here, you must be here for a reason." Harry asked.

"You are smart kid, yes I am here for a reason and the reason is you". At Harry's confused expression he continued." "You see Harry I have been watching you since the day Voldemort attacked you, I know about the prophecy and before you everyone in after life knows about it, everyone there knows that you are child of fate and you have a great destiny ahead of you. Throughout the years I have watched you perform feats which even adults couldn't replicate, your courage, selflessness and big heart is not hidden from anyone and before you go all modest on me, you know it's the truth. For centuries I have been looking for a worthy apprentice to pass on my knowledge and now I have finally found one." Hermes finished his monologue as he fixed Harry with his gaze.

"You mean me, I don't think I qualify enough, I am an average student, I think Hermione would be better suited to inherit your knowledge." Harry said trying not to believe what he just heard.

"Yes your friend Hermione Granger I know all about her, she indeed has a deep knowledge for knowledge, but didn't she told you herself in your first year, that bravery and friendship are more important than books and cleverness, I am never wrong Harry, I know I have made the right choice, it's you and no one else who is worthy of being my apprentice, so tell me do you agree to be my apprentice?"

"I really can't get out of it can I?" Harry said after a moment, on one hand he was excited to learn from a legendary mage on other hand he was still feeling that he wasn't worthy enough.

"You always have a choice Harry, but the question is will you make the right choice." Hermes said.

"Will you be teaching me advanced magic?" Harry asked. now resigned to his fate.

"Yes Harry I will and much more."

"Will it help me defeat Voldemort."

"When I am finished with you Voldemort will be like an amateur before you." Hermes replied with an elegant snort.

Somehow Harry didn't quite believe that but decided not to argue and asked another question. "So when we can start?"

"Right now since you have agreed to be my apprentice, but don't worry today we will be discussing the history of magic only, after all no time is like the present time."

Harry suppressed a groan at this, history of magic was easily his most boring subject. Hermes however understood Harry's feeling and with a slight smile decided to set the record straight.

"No Harry I am not going to teach you about boring Goblin rebellions instead I am going to teach you the true history of magic."

Harry blinked at that, true history of magic? What's that supposed to mean? Hermes saw Harry's confusion and so he continued.

"Tell me Harry what is magic?" Harry was dumbfounded by this question,in all his years at Hogwarts he had never even thought about this question. And he was not alone nobody in the Wizarding world thought about this question. This was not something taught at Hogwarts. Harry wondered if even Dumbledore knew the answer to this question!

"I don't know, I mean I never really thought about it." Harry said honestly.

"And you are not alone Harry, for most Wizards today especially European Wizards, don't even think about this question. Wizards possess such wonderful ability yet they are not even interested to know what is its origin! Wizards today take magic so much for granted that it's astounding, just think about it Harry, with just a flick of the wand and chanting some spells in 'Pig-Latin' Wizards can turn a table into a pig, become invisible, teleport, control someone's mind, torture them to insanity or end their life, in short wizards possess God-like powers, powers which muggles can only dream about, yet no one is interested to know what is the origin or source of this power."

Harry became thoughtful at Hermes' words. He had to admit that he never even thought about this question, like other Wizards he had simply taken magic for granted.

"So Harry are you ready to know the truth?" Hermes asked after seeing Harry thoughtful. At Harry's nod, Hermes started speaking.

"Tell me Harry what do you think about Gods and Angels, do you believe they exist"? This question once again surprised Harry.

"I am not sure, I mean I really never thought about it." Harry said wondering where this question will lead to.

"Well for your information they do exist, Gods, Angles, even Demons they are all basically same, but those who are good are revered by mortals and those who are bad and evil are despised and reviled by everyone, all these are collectively known as Immortals, I am not sure whether they are truly immortal or not, but believe me they are extremely powerful beings. These Immortals, don't exist in our world, in fact beyond this world there is another world or dimension if you prefer, I tend to call it the Astral dimension, some muggles call it the fifth dimension or hyperspace, whatever you call it, the Astral dimension is a strange and mysterious place, the so called afterlife is located here, it has its own laws and things which are impossible in your world are possible here. This dimension is also source of an ancient and mysterious force which some call the Mana, no one knows what the Mana is or what is its origin, not even the Immortals have answer to this question, but despite its mysterious nature it's a proven fact that it's the source of all kinds of forces in the universe including magic."

Harry's eyes widened in understanding as for the first time he understood what magic really is. Seeing Harry's reaction, Hermes continued satisfied with the fact that Harry was following him.

"The Immortals and certain other astral beings have a natural ability to harness and manipulate Mana. They used to visit Earth in ancient times and contacted humans in remote past, they also created all types of magical races, creatures and plants which you see today. Thousands of years back a great civilization emerged, it was the first civilization of the world and its name was Atlantis, yes you have heard about it, haven't you Harry, today many muggles and even wizards thinks that Atlantis was a myth but I assure you that it was real. Anyway it's with the Atlanteans that the Immortals shared some of their knowledge, not magic but other kinds of knowledge which enabled Atlantis to become one of the most technologically advanced civilization of all time. In fact the Atlanteans were so advanced that they could even harness the power of the sun, something which even modern muggle scientists find difficult to accomplish. But the Atlanteans were not satisfied, some of them wanted to learn magic i.e. they wanted to learn how to harness the power of Mana. And so some of these Atlanteans succeeded in convincing certain Immortals who had grown fond of humans and Atlanteans to share their power. But it was not simple, the Immortals wanted something in return for their gift and so the select Atlanteans and the immortals formed a covenant."

"Covenant?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"It's a kind of magical contract formed through a magical ritual, only it's much more powerful and permanent, basically it meant that the Immortals gave the gift of Magic to the Atlanteans in exchange for something, it needn't be anything material it could be something symbolic."

"So the Atlanteans formed the Covenant and got the ability to perform magic from the Immortals?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermes replied succinctly.

"What did the Atlanteans give in return for the gift of magic and how did the Immortals exactly gave this gift to Atlanteans." Harry asked.

"The terms of a covenant are always meant to be private, which means I can't tell you what the Atlanteans gave in return for the gift of magic to the immortals, as for your second question, the Immortals somehow slightly altered the genetic structure of those Atlanteans leading to the creation of a new kind of gene which I call the Magical gene or the 'M-Gene'. It's this M-gene which enables wizards to harness the power of the Mana and do magic even if they are not aware of this fact, muggles don't have have this gene and that's why they can't do magic, as for squibs they have the M-gene in them but for some reason it lies dormant within them and that's why they can't do magic either. Remember Harry the M-gene can remain dormant for generations until it suddenly manifests in someone, this is how muggleborn wizards are born."

New understanding and comprehension were flooding Harry's mind now at Hermes' explanation. There were many questions burning in his mind but he restrained them and let Hermes continue.

"So as I was saying these Atlanteans were the first Wizards of the world. And let me tell you they were really powerful, they didn't need any wands or spells to do magic, everything was accomplished with the power of their will alone. And this power made them arrogant and one of them once foolishly insulted a high ranking immortal named Voman, incensed with the insult that immortal then cursed all Wizardkind that with each generation their ability to do magic will decline. Thus Wizards gradually started getting weaker however new Wizards emerged from former muggles who also did the covenant ritual with Immortals and became magical, thus new magical blood was infused into Wizardkind which served to neutralize the curse of Voman to a great extent. But this seemed to infuriate Voman even further who then one day in his rage destroyed the whole island of Atlantis and drowned it under the sea, however some Wizards warned by a seer who was the first of her kind escaped the cataclysm in ships, if they hadn't then Magic would have died that day, because you see until then the only place where Wizards existed was Atlantis. These few remaining Wizards then scattered all over the world and went on to establish new civilizations, like Egypt, Maya, Minoa, Sumeria, Indus Valley and so on.

This led to however another problem, you see even though in those days Wizards peacefully coexisted with muggles they jealously guarded the knowledge of the covenant ritual, even by then the Wizards had developed a superiority complex and they didn't want to share their powers with muggles. But they knew that to neutralize the curse of Voman they had to bring in new blood, so in every generation they grudgingly shared the covenant ritual with select muggles, thus bringing in new magical blood in each generation, but in order to keep the knowledge of this ritual secret from majority of muggles the early Wizards used to take a magical oath not reveal this knowledge to muggles without express permission of other wizards, nor any of the Wizards were ever allowed to put this knowledge to writing."

Hermes went quiet for a moment seemingly lost in some faraway thoughts, when he suddenly resumed his lecture.

"As a consequence of these measures the knowledge of the covenant ritual became a closely gaurded secret and thus the infusion of new magical blood into Wizardkind was severely limited in every generation, this is the reason why Wizards grew so slowly in population and thus despite the best efforts of Wizards their magical powers went on declining in subsequent generations, until they reached a point when Wizards could no longer do magic with their will alone it was then that the first spells were invented by ancient Wizards, because what are spells but a verbal expression of one's will, but then a time came when even spells were no longer adequate and so the Wizards came up with various magical objects made from body parts of magical creatures to create magical foci to focus and channelize their magic. You see the magical creatures and races were never affected by the curse of Voman and thus their magic will always remain intact, so using their bodyparts to create magical objects which focused and amplified their magic was a stroke of genius on part of the ancient Wizards.

The first magical foci were in form of magical amulets and rings, these are still used in oriental nations like India and China, later a Babylonian Wizard invented the first magical staff until finally in around 1200 B.C. a Greek witch named Circe invented the first magical wand of the world. And thus wand based magic was born. Through trial and error the ancient Wizards learnt that waving your wand in a particular pattern made casting certain spells easier, this is the reason why wand movements are given so much importance while casting a spell.

By inventing spells and magical foci like wands, the Wizards were once again able to neutralize the curse of Voman to some extent but never completely. The Wizards thought rather foolishly that with their spells and wands they neutralized the Curse of Voman. And thus many Wizards now longer bothered to teach the covenant ritual to muggles and bring in new magical blood. But the curse was never neutralized, but the Wizards ignored all the obvious clues like the birth of Squibs, thus in their arrogance and ignorance around 1500 years ago the knowledge of the covenant ritual was all but lost forever. Today there are barely few Wizards who know about this ritual and most of them exist only in India, China and Japan. In Europe this knowledge is completely lost, otherwise both Grindlewald and Voldemort would have used this ritual to enhance their power."

"Wait a minute." Harry suddenly interrupted Hermes. "You mean to tell me that a Wizard too can do the Covenant ritual to increase his power?"

"Exactly, after all this is the ritual which can turn muggles and Squibs into powerful Wizards, though the knowledge is now lost but you must know that the ancestors of most of the Wizards in Europe including the so called Pureblood families were once muggles or Squibs who became Wizards after doing the Covenant ritual."

Harry gaped at this statement, if this knowledge became public it would the shake the very foundation of Pureblood bigotry in Europe. "Can you give some examples to prove your point, not that I don't believe you but I need some actual proof." Harry said.

"Of course, let's start with the founders of Hogwarts themselves. Godric Gryffindor had descended from a Celtic priest who became wizard after he did the Covenant ritual with Celtic goddess Morrighan, both Helga and Rowena were descendants of a Gaelic warrioress who had done the Covenant ritual with Gaelic god Lug, Salazar Slytherin along with the Potters had descended from the Peverell family who in turn had descended from ancient Babylonian wizards who in turn themselves had descended from the original wizards of Atlantis and if you are interested to know, your distant Atlantean ancestor had formed the covenant with an Immortal who went by the name of goddess Sekhmet in ancient Egypt."

"So does this mean I am related to Voldemort?" Harry asked with revulsion after Hermes stopped.

"Yes, but most wizards especially in Europe are related to each other anyway. Now continuing on, the Dumbledore family and also the Weasleys and the Prewetts were all descended from a Gothic warrior who did the covenant ritual with the god Woden also known as Odin amongst Norsemen.

Also regarding Salazar there is one more thing you should know about, though most people don't know this but Salazar's great- grandfather Latinus was actually a Squib, now don't look so shocked it's the truth, but the guy was cunning as a fox and he tricked an old Phoenician wizard into telling him about the Covenant ritual which he of course used and formed a covenant with Jormundgar the Norse serpent god, in fact this is how he ended up with the ability of Parseltounge which he passed on to his descendants.

Moving on, the Malfoys are descendent of an ancient Gaulic bard who became a wizard after doing the Covenant ritual with the Gaulic god Toutatis, the Blacks on other hand are direct descendant of ancient Sumerian wizards who in turn were descendents of the original Atlantean wizards and if you are curious the Atlantean ancestor of Blacks formed the Covenant with an ancient and powerful Immortal who is worshipped by the name of goddess Kali in India." Hermes took a pause here as he fixed Harry with his gaze before continuing. "So is this enough proof for you Harry?" Harry quietly nodded at that.

" You didn't say anything about Merlin, who did he descend from." Harry asked after a moments silence he was really curious to know the ancestry of the greatest wizard of Europe.

"Merlin was not descendent of any wizard, Merlin or Myrddin as he was really known was not even fully human, in fact his father was an Incubus which is a kind of demon and his mother was a muggle. Merlin is what some people may call a Cambion, he inherited his magical ability directly from his non-human father." Hermes replied.

"So Merlin was this Cambion or something, alright that explains a lot about the guy, however there is one thing that you said is bothering me it's about the curse of Voman is its still active?" Harry asked a bit anxiously.

"Yes Harry the curse is still active in fact it's permanent, unfortunately along with the knowledge of the Covenant ritual, the knowledge of this curse too has been lost for a thousand years now, you see when wizards especially in Europe started using wands, they thought that they have neutralized the curse of Voman , since there was no significant decline in magic in subsequent generations and so they didn't bother to tell their kids about the curse, however as I have already told you the measures taken by the wizards never fully neutralized the curse but simply slowed down its spread, but never really stopped it and so wizards kept on getting weaker as a result of which many ancient branches of magics were lost, and don't forget the Squibs, they are a product of this curse, then a thousand years ago some wizards including Salazar thought that breeding with muggles was the root cause of the decline in their power and this is how Pureblood bigotry was born, but those fools didn't realize that all that inbreeding between pureblood families actually accelerated the curse, you must have noticed that most of the Squibs come from pureblood families and this is the reason."

"So does this mean magic will one day die out?" Harry asked.

"Not really at least not in other parts of the world where wizards don't practice inbreeding, but yes if things don't change here in Europe within a few centuries not even a single wizard will exist here, but even though I don't think magic will die out completely in future the magical power will go one declining until a day will arrive when the only magic a wizard will be able to do is to produce a Lumos charm. The only way to prevent this will be to once again spread the knowledge of the Covenant ritual and bring in fresh magical blood or create more powerful wizards using the same ritual, another solution is if wizards breed with magical races like Veelas and Nymphs, since they were never affected by the curse, they may actually able to neutralize the curse on a permanent basis." Hermes replied.

" But what if a dark Wizard like Voldemort uses the ritual becomes powerful." Harry retorted.

"This is a risk the wizards have to take, after all this isn't the first time something like that happened nor Voldemort is the first dark lord in history." Hermes replied calmly.

" So are you going to teach me this ritual?" Harry asked hopefully after all any extra power will be an advantage against Voldemort.

"Yes Harry I will and you only. Since you are my apprentice and since Voman won't allow me to teach anyone else and believe me, even if I am already death but an Immortal of the calibre of Voman can still find ways to torture me."

"So when you will you me teaching me this ritual?" Harry asked a bit eagerly.

"Not so soon first I need to train you a bit which includes improving your physical fitness, otherwise you may not be able to handle the enhanced magical power after the ritual and that means that you need to eat big balanced meals, since I can't rely on Dursleys for that, you need to call Dobby and make him work for you so that he can provide it, I am sure he will be glad to work for since he already considers you as his unofficial master." Hermes said.

"O..kay." Harry said while feeling surprised by Hermes revelation about Dobby thinking of him as an unofficial master. Boy Hermione was going to have his hide for this!

"Speaking of House-elves, you may find this bit of information interesting, you see the first House-elves were created by a Roman wizard by crossbreeding Hobs with Brownies 2000 years ago." Hermes said. "Anyways." Hermes continued. "Once I teach you this ritual I expect you teach this ritual to other worthy students and then you must one day travel to Asia and convince the wizards there to share the knowledge of this ritual with others, only then we will be able to save magic and neutralize the curse of Voman."

"Is this Voman still angry with wizards?" Harry asked.

"Not really, however he feels that mortals don't deserve these kind of powers." Hermes replied. "Any ways I think I must leave we have been talking for hours now, I will see you tomorrow for your training, after I leave don't forget to call Dobby and hire him, I will give him all the additional instructions tomorrow, after I leave the sleeping charms which I placed on Dursleys will wear off, take some rest today I will see you tomorrow"

"Wait, I want to know what should I call you?" Harry asked as Hermes stood from his chair ready to leave.

" You may call me Professor or Sir as I am your teacher." Hermes replied with a smile as he disappeared. It wasn't apparition. One moment he was there the next he was simply gone. Leaving a gaping Harry behind who simply couldn't believe his eyes.

Harry fell back on his bed. The whole incident seemed surreal and Harry wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. Then remembering that Dursleys may wake up any moment he quickly sat up. Taking a deep breath he softly whispered.

"Dobby."

The End.

**A.N.: So here it is my new story. I hope you liked it. Through this story I have tried to explain the origin and source of magic, something which the books never explained. Other writers are welcome to borrow the ideas from this story and incorporate it into their own fics. However please let me know through a PM if you do use my ideas.**

**If there is enough interest I may even write a sequel to this story. And finally in case if someone's curious, Voman is the name of an ancient Persian deity and one of the arch-angels of Zoroastrianism.**

**Finally please read and review.**


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